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Beyond the Classroom
Stand out from the crowd
While many students may apply for the same course or position, it’s your unique skills and experiences that make you stand out from the crowd when you apply.
We offer a wide range of opportunities to enhance your employability including volunteering, mentoring, work experience, interview skills, and student leadership roles such as Prefect or Student Council representative.
We also ensure that all students have opportunities to take part in activities and experiences that go beyond the standard curriculum through our ‘Pathways’ programme. This will help to deepen your understanding of a subject, explore related topics and enhance your academic profile for university and beyond.
Find out about the different experiences on offer below:
Work Experience, Employment and Apprenticeships
All students will take part in a compulsory work experience week in the summer term of year 12. This is a valuable week that provides an authentic insight into a desired industry and an abundance of skill-building opportunities.
Previous hosts have included: Amazon, Hill Dickinson LLP, Jet Blue, Bloomberg, and Whittington Hospital.
At the end of year 12, students are supported to create a CV that captures the many experiences they have participated in during sixth form, including work experience week.
We actively promote employment and apprenticeships as a post-18 destination, and our alumni have gone on to secure fantastic roles:
Sahin (2022/23) - Degree Apprenticeship at Microsoft
Burak (2022/23) - Degree Apprenticeship at Amazon
Tobi (2022/23) - Business Management Trainee at Royal London Asset Management
Many students have also secured apprenticeships with our corporate partner, Bloomberg.
If you are an employer and are interested in hosting a student for Work Experience Week, or want to speak with our students about an employment or apprenticeship opportunity, please contact our Careers Leader: ashae.mederick@petcheyacademy.org.uk
Pathways
We work hard to enable our students to secure places in the most competitive industries. To ensure this, we have set up a bespoke training programme called the 'Pathways', which goes beyond the standard curriculum.
This involves regular trips, workshops, talks from employers, and work experience in five of the most sought-after employment sectors: Medicine, Tech, Finance, Design/Engineering and Law.
Students on each pathway can expect the following:
Pathway to Medicine - first aid training, Junior Doctor Shadowing Day, UCAT support, industry mentors and guest speakers
Pathway to Tech - coding boot camps, visits to tech firms, industry mentors, guest speakers
Pathway to Finance - visits to financial firms, industry mentors, guest speakers
Pathway to Law - visits to court and law firms, Bar Mock Trial competition, Law Society, industry mentors, guest speakers
